Rotary transfer device in connection with endless conveyers



A ril 13 1926. 1,580,193

N. H. FOOKS ROTARY TRANSFER DEVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ENDLESS CQNVEYERSFiled Dec. 27, 1924 i l /vi a o 9 i Cr 19 4 x {=8 Mon 11.1 001;

Patented Apr 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES NELSON H. FOOKS, OF PRESTON, MARYLAND.

ROTARY TRANSFER DEVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ENDLESS CONVEYERS.

Application filed December 27, 1924. Serial No. 758,434.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELSON H.-Foo1s, a citizen of the United States.residing at Preston, in the county of Caroline and State of Maryland,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary TransferDevices in Connection with Endless Conveyors; and I do hereby declarethefollow ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable Others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention'relates to apparatus for heat-treating substances insealed receptacles and more, particularly to apparatus ofthe typeemploying an endless conveyer arranged in a zigzag path within the shell.of the apparatus, the conveyer adapted to progress the receptacles orcans through a heating zone of suiiiciently high temperature to properlycook or sterilize the contents of the receptacles and preferably alsothrough a cooling medium such as cool water, whereby the internalpressure of the cans may be reduced before the cans are discharged fromthe apparatus into the sur' rounding atmosphere. As is well known, notall food substances require the same period of time for proper cookingor sterilization. If the same a paratus is to be used for heat-treatingsu stances requiring different cooking or sterilizing periods, itbecomes necessary to provide some arrangement for limiting the period oftime that the food substances are subjected to the heating medium. Tothis end it has been proposed to provide gates or trapswhich permit thesealed receptacles to be taken from the conveyer at some intermediatepoint and be discharged into the atmosphere surrounding the apparatus.Such means, however, so far as I am aware, do. not permit of preliminarycooling of the receptacles, or rather the contents thereof, before beingdischarged into the atmosphere.

It is an ob ect of the present invention to provide mechanism incombination with a conveyer arranged in a zigzag path, and preferablytravelling through not only a heatin zone but also through a coolingzone that w1llpermit the receptacles to be transferred from one run ofthe conveyer to'another whereby the distance travelled by the"receptacles will be shortened and thus'the time of heat treatmentcorrespondingly shortened due to the shortening of the can psth withinthe shell of the apparatus.

hile the aforesaid mechanism is shown its application to such apparatusbut may i be used in an apparatus performing only one of thosefunctions. When used with a cooker only it is obvious that the cookingperiod will be shortened by transferring the cans or receptacles fromone run of the zigzag path of the conveyer to an adjacent run.

The mechanism for transferring the cans from. one run to another of theconveyer chain includes, among other things, a rotary member disposedbetween a pair of adjacent runs of the conveyer, and a gate or slidebetween the 'saidmember and an adjacent run to allow the cans to passfrom the, conveyer into can-receiving pockets on said rotary member. Fora fuller description of the apparatus reference is to be had to thedetailed description and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view partly in section of an apparatus embodying myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a view on an enlarged scale of features shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view partly in'section of .the arrangement shown inFig. 2.

Fig. .4: is a sectional detail view showing one manner of mounting theshaft loearln for the rotary member 'shown in Figs. 2 anc 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the partition between the rotarymember and a conveyer section as shown in Fig.2.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a shell or tank having an extension 2' atone end thereof, a trap 3 for entering receptacles into the shell to aconveyer, hereinafter described, being shown in connection with theupper part thereof and a trap 4 for dischargmg receptacles from theshell being also shown diagrammatically under said extension. An endlessreceptacle conveyer is arranged within the shell to follow a-zigzag orcircuitous path, such path being shown 1n part in dotted lines inFig. 1. It will be noted that the conveyer includes a looped portion Xwithin the extension 2, :the receptacles being received on the conveyerfrom the trap 3 and being discharged therefrom through the trap 4.

The conveyer includes spaced, parallel sprocket chains 5 between and onwhich are mounted pusher bars 6, the receptacles 7 being positionedbetween the said bars as they are fed thereto by the trap 3. Forsupporting the receptacles while the conveyer is moving in a horizontalpath, there are provided suitable platforms preferably in the nature ofendless belts 8 the upper run of which is arranged below a horizontalrun of the conveyer as shown. Where the conveyer makes a loop anysuitable means may be provided for guiding and maintaining thereceptacles in place between the pusher bars. The apparatus is primarilydesigned as a combined pressure cooker and cooler, the lower part of theshell for cooling purposes cntaining cooling water, the conveyer passingthrough said cooling water and finally up and into the extension 2 wherethe receptacles are discharged from the conveyer through the trap 4:-The above generally described construction is fully described andclaimed in my copending application filed December 8, 1924, Serial No.754,603 and need not be further described in this application.

The shell or tank contains a suitable framework on which the conveyerand other moving parts are supported, part of said framework being shownat 9. Adjustably mounted on opposite sides of the framework 9 arefloating bearings, one on each side, each mounted on a bracket 10,adjustment of the same being obtained in any suitable mann-er as byscrew bolts 11 passing through slots in the bracket. Each bracket isprovided with upstanding lugs 13 between which is mounted a shaftbearing 14;, the bearing being slidably mounted in any suitable manneras by pin-and-slot connections indicated at 15. Disposed between thehearing and adjacent lugs 13 are springs 16 which may be suitablytensioned by screws 17. Mounted in and across bearings 14 is a shaft 18on which is mounted a rotary member or drum 19 havingreceptacle-receiving means in the nature of pockets 2O this point it maybe stated that therearound. At one or both ends of the drum is asprocket wheel 21 whichmay be secured to the drum as by screws 22in'case the drum is mounted for rotation on its shaft 18. The drum isdisposed in the space opposite a loop A of the conveyer and preferablyas remote therefrom as possible in order that a maximum length ofconveyer path may be cut out in transferrmg the receptacles from oneadjacent run of conveyer to the opposite adjacent run by means of therotating drum 19. As shown inv the drawings the drum will preferably beplaced between adjacent runs at the place where the run B is justpassing from a loop D and the run 0 is about to make a loop E. At

while the runs B and C are shown as arranged in ahorizontal path, theinvention is not limited to such arrangement as the runs may be arrangedin any position between the vertical and horizontal as regards thefunctioning of the transfer device. The sprocket wheel or wheels 21 isor are of sufiiciently larger diameter than the drum 19 to mesh with thesprocket chains 5 of the adjacent runs B and C .of the conveyer wherebythe drum is rotated by the conveyer. This manner of rotating the drumalso insures the proper synchronization between I the drum and conveyer.

Disposed between the drum and adjacent run B of the conveyer is a splitpartition or wall generally indicated at F, the separate parts orportions thereof being indicated at 22 and 23. This wall, in theapparatus as shown, constitutes a supporting platform for thereceptacles 7 as they leave the loop I) and until they are received onthe endlesssupporting-belt platform 8 in line with the partition F. Whenthe parts 22 and 23 of the partition are separated as by drawing thepart 23 away from the part 22 the receptacles coming from the loop Dwill pass through the gateway thus formed in the partition and bereceived in the pockets 20 of the rotary member or drum 19, it beingremembered that the latter is being rotated by the conveyer. Thereceptacles received by the drunrwill be carried around through 180 andbe deposited on the conveyer run C tangent thereto after which they willbe carried along by the conveyer over the 100. E and down and out of theshell through the trap 4 as will now be readily understood. By thustransferring the receptacles directly from one run of conveyer toanother, the

linear distance travelled by the receptacles is obviously shortened bythe length of conveyer extending from both sides of the drum to the loopA.

The part 22 of the wall or partition F is supported in any suitablemanner. As shown, it is made as a tangential extension of a casing 24which extends around part in the pockets 20 in the drum from falling outwhile being transferred between the runs B and C. The casing is held infixed position as by means of brackets or arms 25 which extend from theshaft bearing 14, see Fig. 3. The part 23 of the partition F is slidablymounted in a suitable support- 26 and has a handle or extension 26 whichextends through the adjacent wall of the shell or tank to permit itsoperation when desired. Disposed in the same plane as the part 22 of thepartition F and between it and the endless platform 8 below the run B ofthe conveyer is a section of wall 27 over which receptacles may passfrom the part 22 t9 the endless supporting platiii form. As previouslyindicated the drum 19 is adapted to be shifted bodily alon theframework!) to compensate for slac in the conveyer. In order to preventany gap occurringbetween the parts 22 and 2 v these parts are made withintermatmg fingers 28 and 29, respectively, so that relative movement.may be had therebetween without opening any gap through which thereceptacles would pass from the conveyer, it being understood that thewall section 22is part of the casing 24 which partially surrounds thedrum and therefore will be bodily moved when the drum is shifted.

It will now be seen that I have provided a very simple device which willpermit receptacles to be readily transferred between two runs of aconveyer in order that the path of the receptacles through the shell ofthe apparatus may be materially short- 'ened with consequent shorteningof time that the receptacles remain in the shell subject to heattreatment. It will also be apparent that various structural changes maybe made in the apparatus without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

member, the latter having receptacle-receiv W'hat I claim is:

1. The combination with two sections of' an endless conveyer, saidsections extending direct from a loop in the conveyer,- of a rotarymember disposed between said sections opposite-said loop at a pointremote from the latter, said sections after passing the rotary membermaking bends in opposite directions, a partition between an adjacentsection of the conveyer and said rotary ing means therearound, saidpartition in-- eluding a movable member for giving a direct passagebetween the rotary member and adjacent section of conveyer wherebyreceptacles being moved by that section of conveyer may pass directlyinto the receptacle-receiving means of the rotary member and betransferred by the latter to the op-' posite adjacent section ofconveyer. a

.2. In combinatioman endless receptacleconveyer arranged to travel in apath so arranged that portions of the conveyer are travelling in ppositedirections, means for transferring receptacles at will between twooppositely-moving portions of the conveyer, said means including arotary member 'disposed between adjacent oppositely-moving portions ofconveyer, receptacle-receiving means on the rotary member, a gatewaybetween the rotary member and one of the said portions of conveyer, thereceptacles received bythe rotary member through the gateway beingtransferred by the rotary member to-the adjacent oppositely-movingportion of conveyer, and means for closing said gateway against thepassage of receptaele's.

3. In combination, an endlesl teoeptaclea rotary member and one of saidconveyer portions whereby receptacles. passing through the gateway maybe received by the said rotary member and transferred by the latter tothe adjacent portion of conveyer, and means for closing said gatewayagainst the passage of receptacles.

4. In combination, an endless conveyer arranged to travel in a path soarranged that portions of the conveyer are travelling in oppositedirections, said conveyer lIlCl'lld? ing a pair of sprocket chainsbetween which extend spaced pusher bars adapted to form pockets forreceptacles, a rotary member having receptaele receiving meanstherearound, gearing between said rotary member and the conveyer wherebymovement of the one imparts a definite rate of movement to the other,means independent of the conveyer for maintaining the receptaclesbetween said pusher bars in place therebetween, and means permittingreceptacles to pass to the rotary member from an adjacent portion ofconveyer, said means including a gateway which may be closed at. will.

5. In combination, a rotary member having receptacle-receiving meanstherearound,

IDS

an endless receptacle-conveyer arranged on opposite sides of saidmember, a framework for supporting the conveyer and said member, meansfor yieldingly supporting said rotary member on the framework, means forrotating the rotary member in synchronism with the" movement of theconveyer, and means for passing receptacles at Wlll to the rotary memberfrom an adjacent section of conveyer.

6. In combination. a rotary member having receptacle-receiving meanstherearound, an endless receptacle-conveyer arranged on opposite sidesof said member, a framework for supporting said conveyer, a shaft onwhich said rotary member is mounted, a

bearing in whichi each end of the shaft is mounted, a bracket adjustablymounted on the framework, means yieldingly and slid:

ably supporting said bearing on said bracket,

a gear, aflixed to said rotary member concentrio with the -shaft, saidconveyer having a sprocket chain which meshes with said gear on oppositesides thereof, the slidabl e and yielding connection between the shaftbearing and bracket permitting relative displacement between the shaftof the rotary member and the framework whereby the rotary member may bebodily shifted to compensate for slack in the conveyer and thus permitfree meshing of the rotary-member gear with the chain of the conveyordisposed on either sidethereof, a wall between the rotary memher and oneof the adjacent portions of con veyer, said wall having a gatewaythrough which receptacles may pass to the rotary member and means forclosing said gateway against the passage of receptacles.

7. In combination, a rotary member having receptacle-receiving meanstherearound, a run of receptacle conveyer movable in a path extendingtangentially with respect to the rotary member, means between the rotarymember and conveyer normally preventing the receptacles being moved pastthe rotary member by the conveyer from being received by the rotarymember, means for opening a passage through said means between theconveyer and rotary member whereby receptacles being moved by saidconveyer may be received by said rotary member, and a second run ofconveyer tangentially arranged with respect to the rotary member wherebythe cans received by the latter may be transferred to the last-mentionedconveyer.

8. In combination, means for transferring objects from a conveyer run toa conveyer run, comprising a rotary member having receptacle-receivingmeans therearound, runs of superposed receptacle conveyers between whichthe rotary member is disposed, means for rotating said member insynchronism with said conveyer runs, a wall between the upper of saidconveyer runs and the rotary 9. In combination, a rotary member having aplurality of peripheral pockets, a receptacle conveyer extending overand tangentially with respect thereto, said conveyor comprising aplurality of flexibly associated transverse pusher bars, meansinterposed between the conveyer and the rotary member adaped to supportobjects between said pusher bars, and means for withdrawing said supportmeans whereby objects may gravitate from said conveyer into the adjacentperipheral pocket of the rotary member.

10. The structure specified in claim 9 With means for synchronizingmovement of the conveyer with that of the rotary member.

11. In combination with superposed runs of an endless conveyer, a rotarymember having a plurality of peripheral pockets, floating bearings forpositioning the rotary member intermediate the conveyer runs and meansfor synehronizing the movement of the rotary member and the endlessconveyer.

12. In combination with-superposed runs of an endless conveyer, a rotarymember having a plurality of peripheral pockets, said rotary memberpositioned intermediate said conveyer runs andcommon gear means forrotating the rotary member and endless conveyer.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

NELSON H. FOOKS.

